Eric Carmen born August 11, 1949

 Eric Carmen (August 11, 1949 – March 10, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. 

Born Eric Howard Carmen, in Cleveland, Ohio, he began his musical training at an early age. By the age of six, he was taking violin lessons, and by 11, he was playing piano and penning his own original compositions. With his discovery of the Beatles in the early '60s, Carmen's attention shifted toward rock & roll and he began playing piano and singing with high school bands. It was while he was a student at John Carroll University that he joined a local group called Cyrus Erie, who, apart from issuing several obscure singles on Epic Records, failed to leave much of an impact outside of the local region.

But when another popular local rock outfit, the Choir, split up, Carmen and another Cyrus Erie member, guitarist Wally Bryson, joined forces with former Choir members Dave Smalley (bass) and Jim Bonfanti (drums), which led to the formation of the Raspberries. Mixing rockers that combined the melody of the Beatles and the guitar riffs of the Who with lush ballads, the quartet quickly created a buzz, which resulted in a recording contract with Capitol. Right off the bat, the quartet scored a massive hit single with the infectious "Go All the Way", which peaked at number five on the singles charts. Despite issuing further solid albums, the group became known first and foremost as a "singles" act, as their albums failed to match the chart success of their hit singles. Carmen's increasing frustration with the group led the Raspberries to split in 1975. It wasn't long, however, before other groups began translating the Raspberries' sound and approach into their own hits, especially Cheap Trick and the Knack, among countless others.

                                       

Immediately thereafter, Carmen inked a solo deal with Arista where he opted for a more mature, singer/songwriter/ballad style, as evidenced by his self-titled 1975 debut. The shift in musical styles soon reaped rewards for Carmen, as it spawned two big hits, "All by Myself" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," while the album almost cracked the Top 20. Despite a strong start to his solo career, the hits soon dried up, as his subsequent albums sold less than their predecessors. Carmen sank from sight for several years, but penned the Top Ten hit power ballad "Almost Paradise" (from the incredibly popular 1984 film Footloose), sung by Heart's Ann Wilson and Loverboy's Mike Reno.

With the single proving that a large audience still existed for Carmen-penned ballads, the singer resurfaced a year later with his first solo album in five years, the second self-titled release of his career. While it did spawn a moderate hit with the single "I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips," the album failed to move up the charts. It was another movie soundtrack, 1987's Dirty Dancing, that would land Carmen his next big hit, the Top Ten "Hungry Eyes." Carmen scored another hit a year later, "Make Me Lose Control," and also toured as part of the Dirty Dancing concert tour. 

Eric with Ringo Starr

When the tour wound up, Carmen pulled a disappearing act once more, yet throughout the '90s, a wide variety of renowned artists covered songs of his, including Babes in Toyland, Peter Cetera, Sheryl Crow, Celine Dion, and Diana Ross, among others. 1998 saw Carmen issue his first solo full-length in 13 years, the Japanese release Winter Dreams (released in the U.S. as I Was Born to Love You a year later), then in 2000 he joined Ringo Starr's All-Star band for a spell of touring. Meanwhile, rumours had begun to swirl regarding an impending Raspberries reunion tour.

While it was true that all four original Raspberries members met up in early 1999, and three of them performed a few months later in Cleveland at a party, a reunion ultimately failed to materialize until 2005, when the original quartet reunited for a show at L.A.'s House of Blues. The show was released in 2007 as Live on Sunset Strip. Carmen himself released a newly recorded song, "Brand New Year," in 2013, just as a career retrospective set titled The Essential Eric Carmen was being assembled. It hit shelves in 2014 and proved to be the last record issued during his lifetime. According to his wife, the singer/songwriter died in his sleep in Paradise Valley, Arizona on March 10, 2024, at the age of 74.

(Edited from AllMusic)